WhatsApp Rolls Out Chat Transfer Feature to More Beta Testers: Report

WhatsApp has reportedly started rolling out the ability to move chats from Android phones to iPhones for more beta testers. The wider roll out of the feature comes with the update to WhatsApp for Android beta 2.22.15.11, according to a report. The initial roll out of the feature was announced by Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of WhatsApp’s parent company Meta, in mid-June. The ability to transfer chats across platforms was first unveiled at the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event in August 2021. The update is expected to reach more WhatsApp accounts in the coming weeks.

According to a report by feature tracker Wabetainfo, WhatsApp has started rolling out the ability to transfer data from Android phones to iPhones for more beta testers on WhatsApp for Android beta 2.22.15.11. This feature was previously only available for A/B testers, and many people were unable to transfer their chat history from Android to iOS, according to the report.

In mid-June, Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO of Meta (formerly known as Facebook), had announced the initial roll out of the feature through a Facebook post. This announcement came nearly 10 months after WhatsApp first unveiled the feature allowing transferring of WhatsApp chats from iOS to Android, at the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event on August 11 last year.

At the time of the initial roll out, WhatsApp had told Gadgets 360 that the beta update that will allow users to transfer data from Android phones to iPhones was rolling out slowly and would take about a week to reach all users.

As per an FAQ on WhatsApp’s official website, in order to transfer data from an Android smartphone to an iPhone, users need to install the Move to iOS application on their Android smartphone running Android 5 or above. The iPhone to which users wish to transfer data must be running at least iOS 15.5. To enable the feature users should be running WhatsApp for Android version 2.22.7.74 or above with the same phone number on both the handsets.

After users have transferred the data from an Android smartphone to an iPhone it would not wipe out the data from the Android phone. Users will have either have to delete WhatsApp or reset the smartphone in order to erase the data. It is to be noted WhatsApp does not currently allow users to transfer WhatsApp call history or peer-to-peer payment history, as part of the chat transfer feature.